The Ultimate Sacrifice
by UlluoaNicanor
Summary: What if Ellis' childish behaviour went back to his pre-apocalyptic days? What if he was a serious old soul and something in his past changed it all?
1. Chapter 1

**Oh no she didn't.**

**Oh yes she did.**

**Guess who joined the bandwagon?**

**SamanthaRose, but that's not the point...**

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The sun was setting over the horizon, and the 4 struggling survivors knew that if they didn't get to a safe room in time, they would be horribly disadvantaged, what with all the beings that wanted them for dinner.

"I see a porch light; there must be a safehouse up ahead!" Rochelle cried out, relieved. Coach shot a pouncing Hunter and turned to face the only female in the group.

"You run up ahead, I've got your back. Nick, Ellis; you with me?"The two were back-to-back shooting the oncoming horde, they nodded without looking at Coach and he ran after Rochelle, shooting a lingering Smoker with his sights set on the female. Ellis threw a pipe bomb out and beckoned for Nick to follow him towards the light. Nick ran after him, sights completely set on the safe room; he was one hit away from collapsing. This, however, made him fail to see the Charger ready to attack whoever crossed his line of sight. Ellis was ahead of Nick.

Before Nick knew it, a large blur whizzed past him and knocked him to the ground, he looked around wildly to see what hit him and saw with sickening horror that Ellis was being pummeled by a Charger.

"Hold on Overalls!" Nick called, scrambling to his feet and pulling out his Scorpion, aiming at the huge monstrosity, but an even bigger monstrosity smacked both the Charger and Ellis away. The Tank let out a roar and ran after Ellis, who was under the now dead Charger. "Coach! Rochelle! We gotta Tank here!" Nick yelled towards his other teammates. He looked back over at the Tank and started pumping lead into its back, which caused it to turn around and face Nick. Nick's eyed went wide and he started walking backwards, reloading his gun and not daring to tear his eyes away from the unforgiving Tank's.

"Nick, keep that thing distracted, Rochelle's got your back," Coach called out as he and Rochelle sprinted past him.

"Oh? And what will you be doing?" Nick called, barrel pointing straight at the unmoving Tank.

"Someone's gotta get Ellis outta here and into the safe room." Nick nodded and the Tank took it as his cue to attack. He ran to Nick like a gorilla as Nick ran backwards, shooting it in the face. He could hear Rochelle with her shotgun behind the Tank, but with its stamina; it would reach him a lot sooner than he'll fall. True to Nick's assumption, the Tank reached Nick at an alarming speed and bashed him into a tree.

"Anytime Rochelle!" Nick yelled as he dodged the Tank's punch.

"I'm pumping as fast as I can!" She yelled, suddenly the Tank dropped to its knees and starting falling towards Nick, he rolled out of the way and watched the Tank fall face-first onto the ground.

"A little help here," Coach called, the two ran over and helped Coach to push the Charger off Ellis, Coach and Nick carried him to the safe room while Rochelle did quick circles around them, watching them from any angle she could.

The large slam of the heavy red door made the group let out a breath they didn't know they were holding. Because the safe room was in a residential house, they were able to rest the unconscious form of Ellis onto a single bed.

"He's in worse shape than I thought," Nick spoke, turning to his other companions. "Rochelle, I need you to look for any medical supplies, gauzes, antiseptic, anything. Coach, you get some rest, we should have at least one person rested up just in case. I'll help Rochelle."

"Are you sure man, he's in bad shape," Coach questioned.

"We'll be alright," Nick assured him. Coach nodded slowly and walked into the next room, Nick heard him cry out in delight upon seeing the queen size bed and a loud thud indicating Coach falling onto said bed.

"I found a lot of things, the last people in here were well equipped for anything," Rochelle spoke, walking into the room with a cardboard box marked with a medical sign.

"That's great, but we can't use it all." Rochelle sat it on the bedside table and looked down at Ellis.

"What's the diagnosis?" She asked quietly, realizing the young boy had turned a deathly pale colour.

"Well, there isn't any bleeding, but there's this..." Nick lifted Ellis' shirt to his collarbone and Rochelle gasped. There were huge nasty purple bruises in the shape of the Charger's large hand, Nick slowly rolled Ellis on his side and showed Rochelle the cuts and abrasions on his back from falling on sharp rocks on the ground. "He'll have a few broken ribs and a concussion, he shouldn't move from this bed for at least a week."

"But the evac..." Rochelle murmured.

"I know, we'll have to ask Ellis when he comes to whether he wants to stay and rest or risk it and make it the last few miles through the city." Rochelle fell onto the edge of the bed, rubbing her temples.

"I have to go..." She ran out of the room, almost teary-eyed.

"Ro, come back! Ellis needs help!" Nick called, but with no answer. He sighed and looked down at the young boy, face calm regardless of the agonizing pain he'd be in if he was conscious. "Alright then, nothing a little ointment can't fix, right?"

"Ro? What is it?" Coach asked, sitting up on the bed and rubbing his eyes. Rochelle was sitting on the end on the bed with her head in her hands, sobbing quietly. He scooted beside her and placed a burly arm around her shoulders.

"I've tried to keep level-headed about all this stuff, but hearing that Ellis can't really move right now has made me really scared that we might not be able to get out of this hell hole. I mean, that image of all the rescue choppers leaving us on the rooftop keeps haunting my dreams over and over..." Coach pulled her into a one-armed hug as she cried into his chest.

"Maybe you're the one who needs the rest more than I do."

"I can't, those helicopters..." Coach slowly guided Rochelle to the head of the bed, lying her down and rubbing her back soothingly as she drifted off, sighing audibly. Nick walked into the room and saw the two on the bed.

"But I-"

"I had my rest, and she needed it more than I did."

"Well then, you might have to come in here and listen to what Ellis is saying..."

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**Dun dun dun...**

**Check out my other story too. It's killtacular.**

**- Ulluoa**

**PS - If anyone wants to play L4D2 with me, I will kill small children to keep my streak of playing Ellis. Jussayin. I will fight you.**


	2. Chapter 2

**I edited the summary because of a horrible HORRIBLE grammatical error. I'm so embarrassed. I hope that none of you are deeply concerned and need counselling for it. Gosh I feel foolish.'**

**This is kinda a filler. Because I love sausage rolls and could only find two.  
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Coach looked down and made sure their female companion was fast asleep before he followed Nick into the other room; he was reluctant, as he was sure that the youngest male wouldn't be 100% in the head at that moment because of his unfortunate encounter with both a Charger and a Tank. They walked into the other room and stood either side of the bed, Ellis was still lying unconscious on the bed, one arm was draped over his abdomen but his other limbs were straight.

"What was wrong with him?" Coach asked, he lifted up Ellis' shirt and answered his own question, hissing at the four large bruises forming the fingers of the Charger that attacked him. "My God... this boy isn't going to like waking up, that's for sure."

"Listen in for a sec," Nick spoke. Coach stopped and leant in, wondering what the boy has been saying while unconscious. They stood listening for a good ten minutes to no avail, Nick exhaled in frustration and Coach frowned.

"What was he saying?" Nick looked back down and then back at Coach.

"I'm not sure, I only caught snippets of it when I wasn't really paying attention, now that I am; he's finally silent for once." Coach chuckled and looked at the bedside table, noticing the cardboard box. He walked over and peered inside, eyes widened at all the medical supplies.

"Jackpot man, have a look." Coach pulled a laminated paper out from the box and held it up for Nick to view; it was full instructions on how to deal with bullet wounds.

"My god these people were mental," Nick spoke, "Is there a laminated one for bruises?"

"...Well I'll be damned." Coach lifted up an identical paper to the first, but with specific instructions on how to treat bruising according to severity of colouring. Nick gave a short laugh and was handed the instructions, reading through them carefully.

"Well, we need to get some work done quickly to get Ellis back on his feet. We need acetaminophen, whatever _that_ is, rest… blah blah BLAH, elevation. How the hell do we elevate him?" Coach thought for a moment before exiting the room and returning with two pillows. With Nick's help he managed to place the slightly firm pillows under Ellis' shoulder blades and lower back. "Don't tell me we need to cart around pillows just in case someone else gets bruises?"

Coach chuckled. "No son, we ain't miracle workers, let's just get Ellis back on his feet and then try to prevent this from happening with better strategies." Nick nodded and looked back at the instructions.

Rochelle woke several hours later, feeling much more refreshed with the soft sleeping conditions. Standing up, she straightened her clothes, and walked into the other room to check on the guys. She had to laugh when she saw Ellis shirtless with bandages around his torso; Nick and Coach were sleeping against the wall leaning on each other. She looked over and, to her relief, Ellis started stirring.

"Good morning there sunshine, how're you feeling?" Ellis opened his eyes and shut then quickly, wincing in pain and clutching his sides.

"I've been… a lot better…" he moaned, Rochelle walked over to the medical box and rummaged through, finding a bottle of pills labeled 'acetaminophen' and popped a few out onto her hand.

"Do you want me to find some water for you? This house has just about everything else." Ellis nodded and Rochelle placed the pills on the bedside table, walking into the small kitchen and rummaging through the cupboards. She found an unopened bottle of water but it was incredibly warm. "I guess it'll have to do." Walking back into the bedroom, she noticed that the injured boy on the bed had fallen asleep again, but the other two were beginning to stir.

"Why did we end up on the floor when there were two perfectly good beds and a couch here?" Nick complained, stretching out his aching muscles from his uncomfortable position on the floor.

"I doubt I would've shared, and it isn't the smartest thing to share a bed with an injured person," Rochelle spoke, the men noticed her presence. "You guys did a good job on Ellis, he's looking a lot less pale now, he was even conscious for a while."

"Please... please..." The group turned towards Ellis, who had made the pleas.

"Please what, Ellis?" Rochelle asked, walking towards the bed.

"Please take her... I know there ain't no room for me... but please..." They realised he was sleep-talking, but his words weren't making sense to any of them.

"What is he talking about?" Coach wondered aloud, no one could give him an answer.

"She's just a girl... I know one of you lot could just hold her... she don' weigh much or take up much room..." They all looked at each other worriedly.

"Is he talking about a pet?" Rochelle suggested.

"Knowing him? Probably," Nick spoke.

"Ellis," Rochelle spoke clearly. "What is her name?"

"Her name's... her name..." Ellis' eyes suddenly shot open, he bolted upright and surprising his teammates and causing a lot of strain on his injuries.

"It's okay sweetie, just calm down. Guys, keep him down, he can't be jumping around like that." Nick and Coach pressed gently down on Ellis' shoulders, keeping him lightly pinned on the bed as he breathed deeply.

"Wha's, wha's goin' on?" Ellis spoke as Rochelle walked around Nick and picked up the pills and water.

"It's alright sweetie, you were just having a nightmare. Take these; they'll help with the pain." She tilted Ellis' head up and placed the pills in his mouth before tipping some water down his throat.

"Thanks, gosh that water is somethin' shockin'," he choked, sitting upright regardless of his body protesting.

"Yeah well, it's the best I could do," she smirked.

"Thanks."

"So what do you think your chances are at running through hordes of infected today?" Nick asked, Ellis gave a short laugh.

"Like I would every day, man."

"You sure? You were out cold for a bit," Coach spoke, seeming concerned.

"Hey, if we stopped an' had a tea party ev'ry time one of us was a bit sore, we'd never 'ave gotten this far. Trust me, I'm okay."

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**I know this sounds stupid because I've already started the story and all, but should I make this into a Nick/Ellis story? To make it more popular? Or less? I'll let you guys choose.**

**I thought about having to alternating linear paths to the story, one Nick/Ellis and one not. Then I laughed, I'm not THAT hard-working. **

**Jeez.**


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